The best of times, the worst of times
So many pros but boxing just can’t escape the cons
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Saving boxing from itself
THE LONG READ
It’s been a minute since the last edition of Double Dutch winged its way to your inbox and over that period, perhaps for the first time since the world shut down two years ago, top-level boxing has really felt like it was getting back to pre-pandemic levels.
Mid-April saw Errol Spence stop Yordenis Ugas to combine three of the four major welterweight titles and seemingly bring the long-awaited showdown with Terence Crawford as close as it’s ever been, before one week later Tyson Fury and Dillian Whyte headlined the first Wembley Stadium boxing event since Joshua-Klitschko way back in April 2017. Although the latter fight and card underwhelmed rather than riveted, it was still objectively a huge event.
Attention then turned to New York and what could well go down as a seminal moment in the annals of boxing.
On April 30th, two female fighters entered Madison Square Garden as the headline fight in the main arena for the first time. Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, the pound-for-pound numbers one and two, entered a packed and electric MSG with the undisputed lightweight crown on the line, and more weight of expectation on their shoulders than ever before in their illustrious careers.
This was new ground for the sport, and they delivered a fight for the ages. It not only met but exceeded expectations on almost every level.
A thrilling, back-and-forth banger, the stamina and intensity of both fighters was something to behold, and how Taylor managed to not go down during the Serrano onslaught of the fifth round I will never know. Taylor’s second wind in the final rounds seemed to come from another planet and Serrano matched her every step of the way. As the tenth round came to a close, both fighters wildly winged punches in a manner befitting the finest fights of any era. Taylor got the decision, but there were no losers here.
It also wasn’t just the quality of the action itself, but the manner in which it was fought between the two combatants. Respect and class throughout from both, a credit to boxing.
Of course, in other, more organised, sports, we have seen a faster progression of the female side, even in other combat sports such as UFC where women headliners are nothing new. But for boxing, a sport which is often perpetually held back by its own lack of effective governance and in which major promoters openly dismiss women’s boxing in interviews (looking at you here, Bob Arum), this felt like it was a significant occasion.
For female fighters, they can now see a sport in which there are no limits for them. The job Matchroom in particular has done in elevating the women’s code to this point has to be applauded.
This was also a much-needed success story for DAZN. For one of the first times since their exclusive deal kicked in with Matchroom, DAZN were able to deliver what felt like a legitimately game-changing boxing show, the most talked-about sporting event of a packed weekend. Reporting worldwide viewing figures of 1.5 million, the first time we have seen the streamer publicly reveal audience figures, allowed them to celebrate after losing out on a number of major deals, most recently the British rights for UFC. (Editor’s note: They have also seen Warner Bros Discovery and BT Sport - who DAZN seemed at one stage destined to purchase - this week confirm their new 50-50 partnership sports broadcasting partnership).
Taylor-Serrano highlights were shown on delay on BBC Three in the UK, a free-to-air channel, and streaming rights secured for iPlayer for 30 days, in a precise example of the mainstream cross-promotional activity I have been crying out for them to implement since Matchroom went all-in with DAZN last Summer.
The same night as Taylor-Serrano, on the other side of the United States, at the equally historic MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada, Shakur Stevenson looked every bit the true, gold plated superstar-in-waiting in a dominant performance to unify the WBO and WBC junior lightweight titles, outclassing Oscar Valdez over 12 rounds. The world is potentially at Stevenson’s feet now, and the fact that he looked big at the weight denotes that he should be able to move up without too many issues. At the age of just 24, it’s quite something to consider what he could achieve in the sport.
DAZN, showing Taylor-Serrano, and ESPN, representing Stevenson-Valdez, even coordinated so that the main events didn’t clash for viewers. Broadcasters and promoters, legitimately collaborating without an ulterior motive? This was progress indeed.
Just a week later, back in Vegas, Dmitry Bivol put on his own masterclass in upsetting not just Canelo Alvarez, but also the boxing system which had very much cast him as a stepping stone, to retain his long-held WBA light heavyweight crown.
The skill, timing, counter punching, ring craft and supreme boxing ability of Bivol was no surprise to those who have followed his pro journey. On the night, Canelo had no answer. A fighter who I contend would have been a far bigger star by now if HBO Boxing had managed to stay in existence, Bivol has been a victim of timing so far in his unblemished career - but he very much took his chance when it finally came.
It’s also been heartening to see the hitherto-hidden personality of Bivol being allowed to shine in the post-fight hours and days since his victory, and for his understated sense of humour to come to the fore. Combining that with his in-ring brilliance, and as odd as this is to write about a long-standing world champion, boxing could have a new star on its hands.
A word too about Canelo Alvarez. As the highest-profile name in the sport, it’s perhaps sometimes easy to not really appreciate how impressive his aims and achievements have been and continue to be. We can pontificate endlessly on the minutiae of his record overall - Canelo-Golovkin I will forever be a GGG win for me, whatever the official records show - but this still is a fighter who won his first world title at junior middleweight, who in fact started his career as a welterweight, and has been attempting pretty miraculous things which we have so rarely seen in the sport of boxing. Whatever the man who remains undisputed super middleweight champion decides to do next, the world will be watching.
It’s difficult to ignore, for me, the Bivol-Canelo scorecards. Yes, the right man won, but he very nearly didn’t - all three judges gave the first four rounds for Canelo and handed in scores of 115-113, meaning that Bivol needed the twelfth round to avoid what would have been a hugely controversial stalemate being the decision called on the night. If that had been called a draw, which it couldn’t have been closer to, we would have had yet another boxing scoring controversy which the sport really can do without. After performing so well and dominating the fight, Dmitry Bivol’s big moment was almost snatched away from him.
Am I surprised that Bivol defeated Canelo? Certainly not. His combination of size and ability, at his natural weight class, was always going to make this a very difficult assignment for the Mexican superstar.
Did I think it unlikely Bivol would get the decision, in Vegas, if it went the distance? Most definitely, which is why my side bet of the draw at 20/1 almost ended up being a very savvy move.
Overall though, so much good has been coming out of the top level of boxing recently. The instant classic at a historic MSG event, the future of the sport solidifying their position, the upset victory derailing the biggest name of the current era…the last month has demonstrated that boxing can, when it’s really good, deliver at a level very few other sports can come close to. If it was a properly run sport, it could be doing it to this level pretty much every week.
If only the everlasting stigma of poor scorecards was the only negative narrative relevant to boxing in the current news landscape…
On April 12th, the US government - who have been working in cooperation with Irish and British police forces - imposed sanctions on the three people reputed to be the most senior members of the ‘Kinahan Organised Crime Group’, with rewards of up to $5 million for information which leads to the arrest/conviction of each of the three chiefs, or even the “financial disruption” of the organisation. Since then, it’s been confirmed that anyone who breaks the sanctions just to work with Kinahan could face a $1 million fine and a maximum 20-year sentence in a US jail.
Daniel Kinahan, one of the named trio, is stated as being the head of the Group, which stands accused of smuggling narcotics across the world and being “a threat to the entire licit economy through its role in international money laundering”.
He also happens to have become one of the most powerful people in boxing in recent years.
You will have perhaps heard something about the history of the Kinahan cartel, which has been reported as notorious worldwide for their brutal tactics - though it is in Ireland where the most devastation they are reputed to be responsible for has been left in their wake.
Kinahan first established a presence in boxing when he and Matthew Macklin started MTK Global (originally MGM), and before long seemed to be advising a number of the sport’s most high-profile names, notable amongst them the likes of Tyson Fury, Carl Frampton, Josh Taylor and Billy Joe Saunders. MTK rapidly became a management company it was impossible to avoid, a force to be reckoned with that had seemingly hundreds of fighters under contract. Over the course of just a few weeks earlier this year, main eventing opponents Taylor and Jack Catterall, and later Leigh Wood and Michael Conlan, all had the fact that they were Kinahan-advised fighters in common. When Tyson Fury prematurely announced that the Anthony Joshua fight was all set back in 2020, he stated on Instagram that it was “thanks to Dan”.
His oversight in the sport has been MASSIVE, and an open secret within the industry.
The brave work of a select few journalists, mainly in Ireland, has to be applauded. They continued to report on the darker side of the Kinahan in boxing story, in the face of a considerable backlash from the pro-Kinahan camp and a concerted campaign to sportswash away the serious allegations which had been levelled at the MTK founder for years. Boxing owes these journalists a debt of gratitude.
One of those has been Kieran Cunningham, whose excellent Shadow Boxing podcast began last week and details the saga so far more effectively than I ever could. I’d highly recommend giving it a listen…
It’s been dizzying to attempt to follow the fallout within the industry in the wake of the sanctions being announced.
Though they initially released statements distancing themselves from the situation, both MTK and Probellum - the two boxing companies intrinsically linked to Kinahan - have been caught in the crossfire. Probellum lost their TV deal with Discovery-owned Eurosport not long after the sanctions were announced, an agreement which had only been announced in March, and has no more events of their own confirmed as of this moment. MTK, meanwhile, hurriedly announced that they were ceasing operations entirely, leaving hundreds of boxers as free agents almost overnight.
In the wider boxing industry, the reaction has ranged from those who have clearly attempted to distance themselves from Kinahan, those who have decided to go the route of pleading the fifth whilst waiting for this to blow over and even the occasional person who has come out in support of his involvement in the sport (the just a tad misguided MTK/Probellum fighter Jono Carroll). Many of the boxers most notably signed to Kinahan-affiliated outfits have suddenly gone very quiet. Tyson Fury spent a lot of the Whyte fight week avoiding questions on the matter, but did claim that he has “absolutely zero” connection to the sanctioned Kinahan, apart from him being a “boxing fan”.
Top Rank supremo Bob Arum has been managing to tie himself in knots to cover his own side, although he has also exposed more about the inner workings of Kinahan’s involvement in the sport than almost anyone else.
Back in March, the Top Rank kingpin appeared to be in the pro-Kinahan camp…
“(Kinahan) has been very honorable (in our dealings). What he did before, what he didn’t do before; f***ing (Don) King stomped a guy’s head in and did that stop King from being a major promoter for most of my career? What the f**k are we talking about?”
In the wake of the US sanctions, however, Arum stated that his company would no longer have any dealings with Kinahan - “our government has made this determination, we’re gonna follow our government…period” - whilst also revealing that he had previously paid the wanted Irishman $4 million in consulting fees to help make four Tyson Fury fights. Arum also stated that Kinahan had insisted to himself and Frank Warren that he was no longer involved in nefarious activities. (Editor’s note: Warren, Fury’s co-promoter, has since claimed that both he and the WBC world champion had no knowledge of such payments)
Clearly, the US government believes that Kinahan was in no way reformed.
Possibly the most ridiculous example of backtracking came from WBC chief Mauricio Sulaiman, who went from stating that Kinahan (who he named directly) had plans which could make Dubai (where Kinahan has been based and Probellum had just started running shows) “one of the great meccas of boxing” just a matter of weeks back to claiming he and his organisation had never had a relationship with Kinahan and that he made “an innocent mistake, due to absolute ignorance of the situation”.
(Sulaiman in fact directly referenced the Irishman’s criminal links when extolling his virtues and advocating for his presence in boxing before the sanction announcements, so he most certainly was aware of the situation).
In a ‘normal’ sport, the governing body themselves would have been expected to clear this mess up a bit and then put safeguards in place to (even superficially) mean that something similar wouldn’t happen again. But this is boxing, so no such steps will be implemented any time soon. The fight game needs root and branch restructuring but has little to no hope of seeing tangible change.
Boxing will seemingly never truly learn from its mistakes. In the sea of people saving their own skin, we are able to survey a sport which is essentially ungovernable.
I don’t want to get too downcast at a time when boxing is managing to produce so much that is positive. Taylor-Serrano has been the highlight of a pretty stellar month, with so much more on or close to being added to the slate. The truth is though that a sport in which someone like Kinahan was able to so easily become so powerful demonstrates that there are deep issues which should be addressed.
Maybe, as I’ve noted before, this is a sport which is a law unto itself. We might see another Kinahan-style scandal in the future, we may not - boxing’s open market means we can never really know. I’d probably back the former though given the historical evidence, but even then this crazy sport seems to carry on and deliver, despite itself in most cases. The eternal cycle continues on.
HBO commentator Larry Merchant perhaps said it best…
“Nothing will kill boxing, and nothing can save it.”
THE NEXT ROUND
A far-from-exhaustive rundown of upcoming highlights of the boxing calendar…
13th May 2022
Linus Udofia vs Denzel Bentley
Promoter: Wasserman Boxing | TV: Channel 5 (UK)
"I know the move...the move is coming"…those were the words of Kalle Sauerland as he and his brother Nisse announced that they were selling the long-standard Team Sauerland, their family’s European promotional business, to the powerful Wasserman sports and media agency, back in March last year to form the new boxing entity Wasserman Boxing. Since the takeover, with the Sauerland brothers running the company, Wasserman has signed a number of fighters, both established and rookie, and maintained and built relationships with other promoters such Matchroom and BOXXER to allow those boxers to appear on a variety of shows - most notably Chris Eubank Jr. headlining on Sky Sports.
Their new free-to-air UK TV deal with Channel 5, however, is the first major strategic move we have seen from Wasserman Boxing so far. “We have now captured the largest free-to-air platform for boxing in the UK”, said Kalle Sauerland when the Channel 5 deal was announced. “I said at the time (last year), the infrastructure of Wasserman would allow us to do this”, he continued. “With the Channel Five deal, this is absolutely monumental for us. Channel Five have done a fantastic job and we look forward to taking their boxing even further.”
Although it is true that, as a linear station, Channel 5 has the largest potential audience of any boxing broadcaster in Britain, let’s be honest they will not be prioritising or budgeting for these late-night Wasserman shows in a manner which is in the same stratosphere as Sky or DAZN will do for their fight coverage. Channel 5 does have a boxing lineage though, being the home of early fights from the likes of Tyson Fury and Eubank Jr. through their previous long-term deal with Mick Hennessy, and this is a step forward for the Sauerlands’ new venture. Wasserman x Channel 5 gives an opportunity for their roster of talent to have a regular and bigger platform to establish themselves with the viewing public. (I’m still convinced Wasserman had their eyes on becoming the main promoter to replace Matchroom on Sky Sports, but given that BOXXER took that coveted position this is probably the next best available option in the UK market).
The first show of the deal, live on Friday night from the Indigo at the O2, features some solid action. Linus Udofia and Denzel Bentley headline in an excellently-matched clash for the vacant British middleweight title, a belt which the latter held until he was blown away by Felix Cash in just three rounds last April; one-time Matchroom golden boy Josh Kelly makes his in-ring return and Wasserman debut as he looks to rebound from his stoppage defeat to David Avanesyan; and Chris Jr.’s cousin Harlem Eubank looks to continue his unbeaten start to the pro game against UK scene stalwart and former Commonwealth lightweight champion Sean ‘Masher’ Dodd. So nothing truly game-changing, but pretty decent stuff for a Friday night with a few beers and Udofia-Bentley should be an excellent scrap.
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14th May 2022
Jermell Charlo vs Brian Castaño
Promoter: Premier Boxing Champions | TV: Showtime (US)
The rematch of one of my favourite fights of 2021 is, for me, the highlight of Showtime’s 2022 boxing schedule so far. Jermell Charlo and Brian Castaño meet again to set the record straight for the WBC, WBO, IBF and WBA junior middleweight titles ten months on from their contentious and dramatic first meeting, in an attempt to finally decide an undisputed champion at 154 pounds. Like many others, I had Castaño winning the first fight, and felt he missed out on a historic achievement by the age-old boxing cliche of poor scorecards seeing the fight called a draw, with one judge’s 117-111 card for Charlo being particularly galling.
Their first meeting was always competitive and an absolute cracker though and sets things up beautifully for this coming weekend.
When examining the rematch, it feels like Charlo is the one who has the most potential to make the necessary improvements that could make the difference. I have gone back and watched the fight against, still scoring it fairly clearly for Castaño, but if pushed for a prediction here I would lean towards Jermell doing enough to claim the victory here. Castaño fought an outstanding fight the first time around, cutting off the ring and having considerable success with consistent pressure, but Charlo was far from out of the contest and came on stronger as the fight went on and did hurt Castaño on a number of occasions - so with the right corrections he theoretically should be able to impose himself more from the off in the second bout between the pair. Jermell also has a history of conclusively winning rematches, having avenged his only defeat to Tony Harrison with a TKO victory in 2019. This is all reflected in Charlo going in as the slight favourite, despite him being lucky to come away from a draw last time.
Castaño most certainly cannot be dismissed here, if things go the same as last time and he can impose himself again then the Argentinian can certainly pull off a victory, but if he does that on another away day mission then he will have delivered quite the performance. This is a great fight, one of my highlights of what has been a really busy and fulfilling period for boxing, and with Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis - an undoubted future star of boxing - competing against fellow unbeaten welterweight Custio Clayton in an IBF eliminator on the undercard, it’s good stuff all round. Charlo-Castaño II could end up being a classic.
Showtime has US rights to the show, but sadly it looks like expected home FITE TV won’t be picking this one up in the UK, and therefore the best PBC fight of the year so far will not be easily accessible to British fans.
Sergey Kovalev vs Tervel Pulev
Promoter: Triller Fight Club | TV: FITE TV (US and UK)
After attempting to invent a new sport (?) with their Triad Combat boxing-MMA-hybrid-in-a-triangle-ring concept and purchasing a majority stake in the bare-knuckle punch-up organisation BKFC, Triller returns to the world of boxing with the fifth TrillerVerz event, almost six months on from the fourth instalment and with a skew very much towards boxing family trees.
I have to say, when I first read that Triller was promoting ‘Kovalev vs Pulev’, I was at least a little intrigued. A bit confused by which weight it might be fought at, and clearly aware that both appeared to be considerably past their best, but this was a matchup which grabbed my attention. Little did I know that Sergey Kovalev wasn’t fighting Kubrat Pulev, though, and was instead moving up to cruiserweight to take on ‘The Cobra's younger brother Tervel Puvel, who is 14-0 after competing against pretty limited opposition so far. To make matters more confusing, Kubrat is also fighting on the undercard against Jerry Forrest (who went to a wild draw with Zhilei Zhang last year on the Canelo-Yildrim show) in a 10-rounder at heavyweight. The show also sees appearances from Evan ‘Yung Holy’ Holyfield - son of the legendary ‘Real Deal’, who himself was fed to Vitor Belfort in an incredible unsavoury manner on a Triller show last September - and not one, not two, but three sons of former world champion Fernando Vargas after each signed a deal to fight on Triller cards.
Say what you will about Triller, but this show certainly lives up to its family affair promotional billing - whether it deserves the title Lineage of Greatness remains to be seen though. The young Vargas fighters seem to have a lot of potential (especially youngest brother and debutant Emiliano Vargas), and Kubrat Pulev against Forrest might make for a fairly fun scrap, but how much Sergey Kovalev has left - he was last in a ring when he was stopped by Canelo in 2019 - is a valid question.
There’s also a rap battle between Cypress Hill and Onyx as part of the Versuz brand. As with a lot of Triller shows, I’m struggling to sense exactly which audience this is targeted at, and there doesn't appear to be much buzz amongst boxing fans, but it’s definitely a step forward from Triller Fight Club’s horrific mishmash Legends II card, headlined as it was by the then-58-year-old Evander Holyfield Sr., which I covered in detail last year…so I guess we should be happy for small mercies at this stage.